Aldo Zilli: a celebrity italian chef in London

Aldo Zilli – chef consultant for the San Carlo Group of restaurants which is opening Cicchetti in Covent Garden this month. – will be at the Special Design Anniversary by INTERNI.

Here his interview by I Love Italian Food:

1) What episode jumpstarted your passion about food?
Cooking with my mother from the age of eight really inspired my passion for food and despite my father asserting that cooking was only for women I just wanted to get involved.

2)How is started your experience in Great Bretagne?
Following stints working in kitchens in France and Germany I moved to London in 1976 and landed a job at the Hilton Hotel and I have stayed here ever since!

3) Is there a similarity between the italian cuisine and the english cuisine?
England and Italy have very different food cultures, for example in Italy we learn recipes from our mothers at an early age which are often traditional dishes passed down through the generations and cooking from scratch whilst England has taken longer to embrace a real foodie culture which has definitely grown over the last 10 years with the huge popularity of celebrity chefs and food programmes on television.

4) Which is the italian recipe most esteemed by english people?
Pizza and pasta of course! The English love Spaghetti Bolognese and Lasagne especially.

5) In your opinion, what is the least known abroad “Made in Italy” product?
I personally think it is really quite hard to find a very good gelato in England and the British much prefer a dairy rich ice cream – but I think they are missing out!

6) About the Italian Sounding phenomenon, how do you think it can be struggled?
It is really important to protect the origins and the provenance of national Italian food and drink. At San Carlo we always ensure our food and drink comes from a good Italian producer

7) In your opinion, how can we help the foreigners , but also the italians, to recognize the true italian products with the italian production chain?
I think the PDO labelling is a great way to give buyers the confidence that they are buying the genuine article.